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JEDPL Reviews: Total Drama Action
Holy shit. I, Ouroburos the Extreme Conquerer, am tackling a review... on a Wednesday. Surprising, isn't it? Usually, I tend to write them for this wiki by Friday; when it comes to Fridays, I have a LOT more time on my hands than I do right about now. I'm not even sure if I forced myself to do this today or, perhaps, I had not much else to work on. It's very stressful, I tell ya hwut! And putting this aside for a bit, I manage a couple of other wikis in which I normally try my very best to pace myself; just go ahead. Say being the leader or contributor to this wiki is plain and simple, I f***ing dare you! High school exams are also a total shitkicker, even though so far, I passed three out of four tests... I have no idea why worriness is the only emotion clouding my mind at this point. And I feel as if all I'm doing for the moment is completely ramble like a little bitch. I do believe that after this review, I'll return to developing predictions. They've always seemed a bit more easier and not as hammered in, if you know what I'm saying here. So on this Wondrous Wednesday, I am, of course, your Extreme Conquerer! You are, duh, my children. Nearly two full weeks ago, I went on to review a show created by Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis entitled Total Drama Island. I mentioned that it really wasn't much of a series and, for a show with the word "drama" in the title, you'd think the drama would be.... I dunno, probably realistic for a change. {sarcastic} Oooooh, on-and-off relationships plus hostile arguments, no wonder the animated cartoon was called THAT! It had a few characters with good personalities, strong voice acting, and a hilarious concept, but most of that was overshadowed by the inconsistent humor, lamentable animation and art style, and--- JESUS MOTHERF***IN' CHRIST, THAT OPENING THEME!!! If I wanna be famous, I need to be a contestant fast and act like Mickey Rourke's gay cousin! I BETTER HURRY!!!!! Today, I'm here to review the sequel to TDI. Yeah, apparently the first season was SOOOO massively popular that a second entry to the franchise was gonna be inevitable one way or other. Just compare its fame to 6teen, if you will, which is a show created by the same duo that made Total Drama, but I find the former to be a marginally superior series, if only because of the pun: six teenagers at the age of sixteen working at a mall? Uh-huh, that's as far as you can be in the "reality sense". And I like it that way! Anyway, let's get down to the nitty-gritty, except this time, we're virtually avoiding the grits. White puke>Yellow puke, sons of bitches! Here I am going up against.... Total Drama Action!! TDA, the sophomore installment in the Total Drama series, first aired on Teletoon on January 11 of 2009 and ended June 10 of 2010. By looking at it through a rookie's standpoint, this show has one episode more than its predecessor; I do NOT count any specials. Exactly five months later, Cartoon Network would air Action in the United States and finish its run on April 6, 2010, almost two months before Canada got finished with the show, hot damn! Sooooo.... Total Drama Island was done and over with in the land of the Canadians first, but the All-American Americans ended the sequel before the former did? Somebody better explain to me what the hell happened here or else I'm gonna pull a Cartman! {seething} I seriously. Will. Go with it. Plot-wise, it's as simple as the first season: various contestants are competing so that one of them gets to be the winner and earn, are you ready for this? $1,000,000 DOLLARS!!! The grand prize from the last season basically got $900,000 bucks of cash added to it. What lunatic came up with that!? {looks at the creators and Chris McLean} Huh. THAT'S NOT A DAMN SURPRISE AT ALL!!! The setting takes place at an abandoned studio in Toronto, Ontario instead of Muskoaka, and a majority of the challenges are based on various film genres; my favorites had to include the Full Metal Jacket-themed and Detective episodes. Two teams are formed, but unlike TDI, in which the host just did it right away in the very first episode, viewers have to wait for the third episode of the second season to see this go underway. The two groups, the "Screaming Gaffers" and the "Killer Grips", and its comrades were founded by team captains Gwen and Trent respectively. After seven teens get eliminated and had to go towards the "Walk of Shame" and into the "Lame-o-sine", the teams dissolved just like what happened in Episode 14 of Total Drama Island! They just couldn't think of anything original to do here, eh? You wanna know the stupid part of all of this? What I just mentioned earlier happened because of Geoff and Bridgette getting eliminated in Episode 2; a lot of Total Drama fans know them as the "Party Guy" and the "Vegan Surfer Who's About as Clumsy on Land as Ronald McDonald is When He Worked at That Department Store". They had much clearer personalities back then, but here? In the first two episodes of TDA, all they ever did was make out. That's it. What a great way to f*** up characters, writers! Luckily, this lovable (literally speaking) duo host some sort of talk show known as the TDA Aftermath, which showcases never-before-seen clips, fictional fan mail, previously eliminated contestants along with the ones who weren't competing this season, and the like. I felt it was a nice change of pace from the challenge-based episodes, although I'll be honest: did we really need to have FOUR of them!? God, that's almost like comparing it to those Simpsons Halloween specials, you need to be scarce when utilizing them! Fourteen out of twenty-two competitors return for Action and, surprisingly for this series, they managed to actually push some character development into this one. In particular, Justin (the only American in the first season who was no more than a mute with great looks) actually speaks a lot more, and as a result, he is now a manipulative antagonist just like Heather was for most of the previous season... but not very good at it. This guy's more concerned for his complexion than anything else and does a piss-poor job at challenges. That, and in my opinion, he is downright annoying to hear. Adam Reid, go back to Wayne from Underground Video!! Justin was just not a character meant for you. On the downside, Courtney (who originally was not supposed to be in TDA) is more of an uptight bitch this time around and successfully sued the TV show back in Episode 13, according to narcissist and Jeff Probst ripoff Chris. I also don't find Heather to be as interesting as she was in Island... I think it was the fact she lost all her hair. Bald girls make me cringe, real or fictional! Animation-wise, not much has actually changed, although the characters are a bit more expressive this time around. Neptoon Studios must've gotten their shit together and Todd Kauffman was saying, "Alright, folks, nobody thinks a swarming mass of teens creating repetitive facial expressions and moving like cheap asses are funny. What we need to do now is repeat our college days and then start animating like the pros we believe ourselves to be! Who's with me!?", and the rest of his crew went, "YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAH!!!!!! Fus Ro Dah, motherf***ers!!!!". Am I the only one imagining that happening before TDA started to truly take off? On the other hand, the art style still isn't anything to defend over. Again, I can't stress this part enough: why is it that, when it comes to practically everything animated in Flash, characters are drawn with four fingers and toes? People assume it's not as complex or difficult that way, but I say BULLSHIT! I don't care if it's a form of bias, but for that reason I just pointed out, looking at shows animated in Flash these days is merely tedious and eye-piercing. Give me flashing colors and abstract visuals any day of the week and I won't complain! A lot of critics have noted that one of the reasons Total Drama Action is a step below the past series is because of the comedic value. I'm not fixing to blame them here, because out of all the slight improvements this show got, the humor was never one of those things. Much of the funny bits now revolve around childish arguing, bad jokes, and much more innuendo than TDI. You remeber the very old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"? Not even the so-called geniuses at Fresh TV caught on to that! If you pit that company against Williams Street , Augenblick Studios, or Klasky Csupo, who would remain victorious in that battle? Yeeeeeah, didn't think so.... at all. The audio presentation got a bit better, I must admit. Most of the voice cast pretty much got comfortable with their roles and, to some extent, characters sound more emotive and also a bit on the higher side. Once you show the first episodes of TDI AND TDA back-to-back, the change is quite noticeable and, to a vocal minority, also surprising! The music is not much of a bother anymore, with the exception of "I Wanna Be Famous", the theme song to the first season. Something's telling me the crew reused that piece deliberately to make the viewers go crazy like Donkey Kong when he's never had a banana all day long!! Final verdict Total Drama Action ends up being more of a mixed bag than its predecessor. Despite a greater emphasis on certain things such as the audio, animation, and the character development, the quality of the humor has become redundant. Furthermore, there just aren't a whole lot of plot twists other than Courtney suing "Total Drama Action" or perhaps Owen working as Chris' ringer., and the character designs are still fairly bland. Regardless of every bit of this, I am Ouroburos and, as always at the end of most of these, I'm signing out. No more reviews for me for a long while after this. Peace, biatches! Pros *Most of the characters are just as intriguing at they were in the first season, if not better than; all thanks to development, everybody! *The audio quality is more frenzied and not just fun to listen to. *Even though the animation is still cheap, the contestants tend to express themselves a bit more freely and aren't too repetitive when doing so. Cons *The comedy is worse than before; more or less, all of it's the same now! *Not many plot twists. *Due to the choosen art style, designs are still nothing short of lifeless. Category:Review